25th Best Professor Award
The Delft University Fund has been presenting the Best Professor Award to a professor from Delft since 1994; 2018 will be the 25th occasion. Three Best Professors reminisce.
Best Professors excel both in teaching and research, basing their teaching on their research. They know how to motivate students and doctoral candidates, giving inspiration to their students, but allowing themselves to be inspired too. They are not chosen because of pass-rate figures or impact scores, or selected by the Executive Board. You can only be nominated by your academic environment; by the people who see you as their teacher.
Without exception, every recipient is proud to take their place in the illustrious list of Best Professors. The University Fund honours them with a medal and a certificate, and the winner also receives two intercontinental airline tickets and a cash prize of € 15,000 intended for a sabbatical. Three Best Professors on their experiences:
Although Jack Pronk had already won several prizes for his work, the Best Professor Award was the icing on the cake: “This is probably the best prize I've ever been awarded. And I got it doing something I already see as a reward: teaching and supervising doctoral candidates.” He hasn't had time for a sabbatical yet: “In 2016, I received an ERC Advanced Grant, a substantial European research grant. At the same time, a colleague left, putting 11 doctoral candidates into my care. I’m not as mobile as I was!” He's not short of ideas though: “I'd like to try teaching a new subject after my ERC project. Something outside my comfort zone; thermodynamics or ethics, perhaps. I'm basically a biologist, so these aren't particularly obvious subjects for me. I could imagine spending my sabbatical devising a course like this, in a peaceful location like a Norwegian fjord.” Despite the current pressures of work, teaching is still in his blood: “Giving lectures and supervising young researchers is why I work at TU Delft.”
Jacob Fokkema is proud of his Best Professor Award: “Being a Best Professor takes more than just being a good teacher. You have to take your students on an academic adventure. It's great if your colleagues and students show their appreciation.” Fokkema's sabbatical took him to New Zealand: “The soil there is perfect for research into one of my specialist subjects: georadar. I gave lectures, supervised a post-doc and made lots of unique contacts.” But being a Best Professor also involves obligations: “Best Professors are among the cream of the university crop. They’re the ambassadors and the conscience of the university. They must set a good example, but also have a duty to speak out if they are unhappy about the way things are going. Noblesse oblige.” Nowadays, Professor Fokkema conveys his passion for teaching and research to others as a coach. “You have to love what we do as a university with all your heart, without wanting to be particularly rich or important yourself. That's the bottom line.”
Ted Young sees the Best Professor Award as an important initiative: “There are plenty of prizes for research, up to and including the Nobel Prize. But there's very little recognition for good teaching outside your own organisation. This prize shows that teaching isn't a minor issue at TU Delft.” What is expected of a true best Professor? “The rules state that they ‘must prove their teaching expertise’. In this case, it means having given droves of young people the knowledge, instruments and skills they need to reach the top of their field.” Young was humbled by his Best Professor Award: “You choose a path in life and try to make the best of it. Your primary motive is to be the best you can in your work, and if you are, you don’t really need a prize. But the Best Professor Award is a sign of recognition from the very people who stand to gain from your teaching. It means that I made the right choice. If you only want to do research, you don't need to work at a university.”
